The ifs always have been there for us, haven't they? If Claude Lemieux doesn't go high to the glove side on Mike Liut at 5:55 of overtime, Kevin Dineen thinks of something grand. If Ray Ferraro hadn't missed just wide moments earlier, Lemieux doesn't get the chance to lift the backhander that left the Montreal Forum in delirium and reduced Hartford to throwing a parade for a team that won one playoff round. If the Whalers had won that seventh game of the 1986 Adams Division finals, surely they would have beaten the injury-depleted Rangers for the conference title.

Claude Lemieux returned to Hartford Friday night with the AHL's Worcester Sharks as he tries to make a comeback at 43. He was 20 when he scored the game-winning goal in overtime as the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Hartford Whalers from the playoffs April 29, 1986 with a 2-1 victory in Game 7. Twenty-two years later, the moment still haunts Hartford hockey fans: THE GAME STORY Jeff Jacobs was The Courant's Whalers beat writer at the...

Claude Lemieux returned to Hartford Friday night with the AHL's Worcester Sharks as he tries to make a comeback at 43. He was 20 when he scored the game-winning goal in overtime as the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Hartford Whalers from the playoffs April 29, 1986 with a 2-1 victory in Game 7. Twenty-two years later, the moment still haunts Hartford hockey fans: THE GAME STORY Jeff Jacobs was The Courant's Whalers beat writer at the...

Brendan Shanahan recently gave this scouting report of the Four On Four Challenge: Western Canada is the tough guys. Quebec is the fast guys. And USA and Ontario are the Hollywoods. Well, the fast guys and the Ontario Hollywoods will be in the championship game tonight at Copps Coliseum. Shanahan's Team Ontario, which finished the round robin 2-1, beat Team USA 3-1 Friday night to get to the final. Whalers right wing Pat Verbeek scored his second goal of the tournament, while Paul Coffey and Doug Gilmour also scored for Ontario.

The previous four years, it was an Eastern, or Wales Conference team that won the Stanley Cup. This fit. As in basketball and football, it is the Eastern teams that play tougher defense, which translates to postseason victories, which ultimately lead to championships. There is no baseball translation to this dictum because nobody in the major leagues plays defense like they used to. The crisis is so pervasive, even Ken Burns made 116 factual errors in his epic documentary "Baseball" -- as Keith Olbermann was quick to point out. Goodness knows, Olbermann doesn't make mistakes.

The ifs always have been there for us, haven't they? If Claude Lemieux doesn't go high to the glove side on Mike Liut at 5:55 of overtime, Kevin Dineen thinks of something grand. If Ray Ferraro hadn't missed just wide moments earlier, Lemieux doesn't get the chance to lift the backhander that left the Montreal Forum in delirium and reduced Hartford to throwing a parade for a team that won one playoff round. If the Whalers had won that seventh game of the 1986 Adams Division finals, surely they would have beaten the injury-depleted Rangers for the conference title.

Baseball Boras Says Sox Interested Catcher Jason Varitek's agent said the Red Sox have expressed interest in bringing the team's captain back but have not made a contract offer. "We've had no financial discussions with the team as of yet," Scott Boras said Tuesday. Varitek, in his 11th season with the team, filed for free agency after completing a four-year, $40 million contract. He hit .220 with 13 homers and 43 RBI last season. He will be 37 on April 11. . . . The Sox will open their 37-game exhibition schedule with two games Feb. 25, against Boston College at home and against Minnesota in the Twins' park in Fort Myers, Fla. Tickets go on sale Dec. 6 at $10 to $40. . . . Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli will receive the Tony Conigliaro Award, presented by the Boston Baseball Writers' Association.

Claude Lemieux has four Stanley Cup rings, Kevin Dineen has no Stanley Cup rings and none of the arithmetic was lost on Dineen three weeks ago at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. "I'm lined up against Claude when we're playing Phoenix, and I get it in my head that he's personally responsible for taking two rings away from me," Dineen said Tuesday, a few hours after he announced his retirement as a player. "Then I start thinking about how I might be retiring soon." The more Dineen thought about Lemieux going high to the glove side on Mike Liut in overtime of Game 7 of the 1986 Adams Division finals, the angrier he got. The more he thought about Lemieux leading the Devils past his Flyers in the 1995 conference finals, the more frustrated he grew.

The moment is frozen in time for anyone who cared about hockey in Hartford. Paul MacDermid was sprawling on the Montreal Forum ice. Tim Bothwell was diving on the ice. Claude Lemieux was sending a backhander high over Mike Liut's glove and into the net. Game over, series over, season over. Canadiens win 2-1 at 5:55 of overtime in Game 7 of the 1986 Adams Division finals. After upsetting the Quebec Nordiques in the first round, the Whalers went toe-to-toe with the eventual Stanley Cup champions before watching it all end. In hindsight, it may have been the beginning of the end for hockey in Hartford.

This series obviously has nothing to do with the Whalers. But any Whalers fan who ever paid a dime or two to pass through the Civic Center turnstiles knew exactly how this movie was going to end. Kevin Dineen busts his gut, a churning, burning ball of desire. He scores one goal. He scores two. He barely misses a third on a rebound late in the game to be the hat-trick hero of the hockey world. So what happens next? Claude Lemieux empties the Spectrum with a 55-foot goal with 45 seconds left Sunday to give the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

No, they are not perfect men. His own teammates feel like stringing up Claude Lemieux when he starts mouthing off, complaining that the Devils' team bus is too hot or the food is too cold or one of a million things is irking him. After he had a run-in with goalies coach Jacques Caron at midseason, Stephane Richer still has an ax to grind. And Richer insisted at the start of the playoffs that he wasn't at all motivated, although if you documented his actions it would show he led the Devils in playoff scoring.

%% Sawchuk Roy 21 years (1949-70) Career 15 years (1985-now) 971 Games 847 447-330-172 Record 448-264-105 103 Shutouts 48 7 All-Star selections 5 4 Stanley Cups 3 4 Vezina Trophies 3 %% Styles Terry Sawchuk: Following the puck through the legs of teammates and opponents, Sawchuk revolutionized the crouching style. But he also was acrobatic and lively, bouncing across the crease. Patrick Roy: Known for the butterfly style made popular by Tony Esposito in the 1960s and '70s.

As the New Jersey Devils culminated their comeback against the Philadelphia Flyers with a seventh-game victory in the Eastern Conference finals last month, veteran Claude Lemieux peered into the eyes of his rookie linemate. Scott Gomez, the affable and confident 20-year-old, let down his bravado for Lemieux. With the Devils staving off elimination twice and struggling to survive a tense Game 7, Gomez had a confession. "I can't feel my legs," Gomez said. For a kid who seems unaffected by his surroundings, this was an admission of angst.